Post Pregnancy Body Woes

You can't help but marvel at all your body has endured in the past nine months. Now that the pregnancy is (finally) over, you've been rewarded with a living, breathing wonder -- and a new title: Mom.

For every woman who has successfully trimmed their thighs, lost their love handles, and banished bra fat after pregnancy, there are a dozen others who remain unfairly plagued by these trouble spots that take a tenacious grip despite rigorous exercise and diet regimes. No one likes what post pregnancy does to our bodies. We would all like it a little tauter and firmer than what we see in the mirror nowadays. But perhaps no one has prepared you for these cosmetically challenging truths about post pregnancy yet. So here’s how you can face them.

Stretch Marks: Here’s a truth: You can be any size and have stretch marks. You can get them at any age: from puberty, through pregnancy, from weight gain or loss.

Professional Solution: Vbeam + Fraxel Re:store – Why stomach the less lovely part of motherhood? This potent pair of scar-healing superstars will help stamp out more severe cases of red stretch marks and restore your tummy’s yummy supple elasticity to better withstand your next bundle of joy.

Cellulite: The hard truth is that even skinny girls have cellulite. Plus it tends to be relatively resistant and progressive in most cases. Genetics, poor blood circulation, toxin build-up, skin thinning and laxity with age, and weight gain are the major culprits. Ditch the dimples with our surefire ways, from quick to long-term, to leave your skin smooth, firm and pucker-free.

The Sweaty Solution: Exercise

Zap fat with cardio, and chances are, you'll lessen the look of cellulite. But the real exercise secret lies in one magic move: the lunge. You don't have to try it, unless, that is, you want firmer thighs.

Why it works: The lunge is one of your best weapons against cellulite, because it builds lean muscle in your butt and thighs, two cellulite-prone zones. Think of your leg as a legal pad: The paper is your fat, and the cardboard back is your muscle. If the cardboard is flimsy or missing altogether, the paper flops about, bulging inward and outward (as cellulite does); but if the cardboard is sturdy, the paper stays smooth.

To maximize the lunge's dimple-diminishing capabilities, watch your form: Never let your knees creep past your toes, and be sure to press the heel of your front foot into the floor and squeeze your glutes throughout. Do three sets of 12 to 20 reps of lunges on each leg, three or four times a week. In as little as one month, you'll see improvement. A little goes a long way.

Professional Solution: Thermage for Body

Other than unsightly bulges, sagging skin secondary to childbirth or aging and cellulite are the two other problems standing between you and your bikini. Fortunately, these problems can be treated by heating up the skin – via radiofrequency waves with Thermage, to stimulate collagen production, essential for tightening and rejuvenating skin. This lunchtime skin lifting treatment is FDA approved for both skin tightening and treating cellulite, allowing you to kill 2 birds with 1 stone in a single treatment.

Radiofrequency treatments like Thermage for Body or Acoustic Wave Therapy are clinically-proven short-cuts to bust cellulite by improving blood circulation, draining toxins and revving up collagen regeneration in the overlying skin.

Stubborn Flab & Fat Bulges

Dieting as a whole causes mainly general weight loss in the entire body. When you need to spot treat a specific area like the tummy bulge and love handles further without morphing into a flat-chested, saggy-faced chopstick, targeted adipose antagonists like liposuction or Zeltiq Coolsculpting are the way to go.

Professional Solution: Coolsculpting PLUS

Powered by patented Cryolipolysis®, Zeltiq CoolSculpting is the original gold standard FDA-approved fat-freezer that cleverly selects and sends unwanted fat into the natural cell death mode, without damaging the skin and surrounding tissues. As these fat cells get eliminated from the bodyfor good in the weeks that follow, this non-invasive liposuction alternative whittles away 20 to 25 percent of the adipose pocketthat seemed immune to crunches and salad lunches with every lunchtime treatment. Armed with a variety of handpieces to target different body parts and body shapes,there’s possibly no stubborn bulges that will stand between you and that arm-baring, form-fitting frock.

With Coolsculpting PLUS, we go the extra mile with a two prong approach to ensure that your results are further enhanced. Each session is supplemented with with (1) lymphatic drainage therapy – to turbocharge your metabolic engine; flushing resistant fat cells permanently out of their comfort zones, enabling the svelte figure of your dreams to crystallize.As a perfect finishing touch, the overlying dermal skin layers arecoaxed with (2) skin strengthening vitamins;tuning up the skin’s collagen bounce for overall textural refinement and taut smoothness.

Vaginal Laxity:

Up to 50% of women who have undergone childbirth via vaginal delivery will have some degree of vaginal laxity. Yet, this problem is rarely discussed. Just like skin, vaginal tissue is made up of collagen fibers. During vaginal childbirth these tissues can overstretch, damaging the collagen and creating a feeling of looseness (laxity), especially around the vaginal opening.

Women who experience this loss of tightness may also notice a decreased feeling of sensation and sexual satisfaction during intercourse. These changes can affect a woman’s overall sexual health and are a quality of life issue for millions of women every year.

In a survey, 1 of over four hundred women who had vaginal deliveries, nearly half reported some level of concern with vaginal looseness, otherwise known as vaginal laxity.

Tone Vaginal Muscles with Kegel Exercises

After giving birth vaginally, it's normal for the vagina to be larger than it was before, and this effect generally is more pronounced after the birth of a large baby. This is caused by relaxation of the pelvic floor musculature. These muscles will lose their tone with each successive birth, although pelvic floor exercises known as Kegels can help you tighten them up.

If you haven't already done so, it's a good idea to do Kegels. Kegels involve perineal tightening and help to restore the tone of the muscles that surround the opening of the urethra, vagina, and anus.

Since this includes the muscle that you use to stop and start the flow of urine, you can check if you've identified the right muscle by testing your Kegel technique while urinating: If you can stop the flow of urine when tightening, then you know that you're contracting the correct muscle. (But don't do your exercises while urinating — it can actually weaken the muscles and lead to urinary problems.)

As with any exercise, start doing Kegels a few at a time, a number of times each day. As your muscles start to feel stronger, gradually increase both the number of Kegels you do each day and the length of time you hold each contraction. Do the Kegels in sets of ten and try to work up to three or four sets about three times a day.

Some women find that associating the exercise with certain activities (for example, while stopped at a red light, talking on the phone, or nursing the baby) helps them remember to do their Kegels. Besides improving vaginal tone, pelvic floor exercises help prevent urinary incontinence later in life.

Intima Touch™ is specially designed to address and restore vaginal laxity in a painless, non-surgical manner. It uses Viveve's patented radio frequency technology to stimulate new collagen production in the treated vaginal tissues, restoring its suppleness and firmness over 30-90 days after the treatment.

Intima Touch™ requires no anesthesia and can be completed in about 30 minutes. At the beginning of the procedure, the doctor will insert a Viveve treatment tip, about the size of your thumb, just inside the vaginal opening. The tip is circumferentially moved around the opening, delivering pulses of painless radiofrequency energy to the collagen fibers that make up the underlying tissues, while also cooling the vaginal surface.

In two clinical studies, women who reported an increase in vaginal laxity following childbirth underwent the treatment with the following results:

Improved and sustained vaginal tightness was shown by 88% of the women at 12 months after treatment

Women who were treated experienced a 68% mean increase in their vaginal laxity scores at 12 months

Improvement in sexual satisfaction was maintained through 12 months after treatment

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The Skin Radar is an online avenue which documents my tumbling thoughts, ideas and musings from my daily life, mainly based on skincare and beauty. It is designed to take the clutter out of beauty journalism to provide trustworthy and objective insights, new finds and sneak peaks- all in a beautiful and clean platform.

I test all products & treatments with age and skin colour in mind, break down the latest health fads, and source for expert opinions from international skincare leaders. All in all, my goal is to make sure that I am on top of every beauty innovation and skincare trend the world has to offer.